this friday. investors are taking an overwhelmingly positive april jobs report with a grain of salt. they're digesting the numbers just as some of the best economic and political minds on msnbc digested them in real-time this morning. >> 288,000 jobs. >> are you serious? >> the april jobs report is out, and it's a surprisingly strong number. it shows that the economy perhaps may finally be bouncing back after the brutal winter. >> it's almost all good news with the labor force participation did drop again. >> i'm trying to find something -- i said that the economy had been getting better for about three years, and you were poo pooing all over me just about ten minutes ago. >> keep digging because finding a lot of negative news in this report will be hard to do. the unemployment rate down to 6.3%. the lowest it's been since the 2008 crash. the economy added a net gain of 288,000 jobs in april. on top of 203,000 jobs created in march. so much for the spring slump. these numbers are so big we sent

both krystal and ari to washington. the one thing they're concerned about is the labor force participation rate which is the lowest it's been since the 1970s. overall the most positive jobs report the friday we've had in a long, long, long time. the markets aren't the only ones reacting to the news. >> the grit and determination of the american people are moving us forward, but we have to keep a relentless focus on job creation and creating more opportunities for working families. there's plenty more that congress should be doing, but i keep acting on my own wherever i must to make sure every american who works hard has the chance to get ahead. >> no surprise who else is reacting. our jobs report duo jared bernstein and peter mauricy. you're a glass half full kind of guy, jared. this report is good. >> first of all, let me just say how cool it is to have krystal

and ari in d.c. that's already a good friday. look, i -- >> i can hear siri in the background, though. >> the 288,000 on payrolls is definitely obviously a good, big number. better than expected. prior couple of months were revised up 36,000. but this labor force participation thing cannot be ignored, and i think it's one of the things that markets are dealing with today. this .4 decline in the unemployment rate, the labor force participation rate also came down .4. that means the decline in the unemployment rate is fully explained by the decline in the labor force, and that's not a good sign. it's a tale of twol surveys, but i would more heavily weight the payroll survey. a good report, but want completely unblemished. >> peter, there are two downers, though. the right being the gdp numbers set for the first quarter were well below forecast.

an annual rate of .1%. there is the labor force participation rate, which is now down to its lowest, as tory mentioned, since the 197 0z. help put this in historical context. what would the rate look like today if all these were equal on that front. >> well, if we had the labor force participation rate today that we had, say, when mr. obama took office, we would be having unemployment up around 9.5% or so. maybe even 10%. so we've made most of our progress because people have left the labor force. 288,000 is a good number compared to what we've had, but i think that jared would agree, we really would like to be seeing 400,000 or 500,000 a month in an economy our size. the other thing you haven't mention and it bears mentioning, is that the wage rate was flat. that away educate that we continue to create a lot of low wage jobs.

>> peter, i definitely agree with your naltsz there, and i we know disagree somewhat about what to do about it, but you're putting your finger on a big part of this economic story. let me read also from neil irwin who i think agrees partly with that naltsz in today's "new york times". he says it's great the job growth is showing more life after a gloomy winter, but it would be better if this market were coaxing more people into the labor force rather than leading them to leave. with higher pay for workers that haven't seen significant raises in the better part of a decade. jared, why don't you join in and tell us what your thoughts are at that point? >> i've been writing about this, and, by the way, i think it's important to look year-over-year. if do you that -- the monthly numbers do bounce around. i don't disagree with anything either of you said. year-over-year, the average hourly wage is up 2%. inflation about 1.5%. there's a little bit of real

wage growth. one of the things i've tried to stress in my writings is that this is an important thing for the federal reserve to think of. the federal reserve worries about wablg infrayings and price inflation. sometimes it will act preem preempttively to slow things down. i do think it's important for the fed to continue to try to help as best they can. >> yeah. >> we're getting to this weird place where the unemployment rate is pretty low. it's 6.3%. it's not ideal. it's not where we want it to be, but it's improved markedly, and people don't really feel like the economy is in that great of shape. you saw the evidence of this in this week's nbc news-wall street journal poll. you saw that only 26% think the economy is going to improve over the next year, and 42% say the economy has not really improved since obama has been in office, which, you know, just looking at the data and the sort of cliff that we had fallen off when the president came in to the office objectively that it's not the

case, but people are still feeling very much like they're in a tough place economically. >> and that's because they are in a tough place economically unless they're in the top .1 of 1%. if you look at the unemployment rate, you shouldn't see 6.3. you should actually see a somewhat higher number because it is depressed by the labor force story we've been telling, and then, of course, the wage piece plays into it as well. people are definitely doing better than they were when the economy was in such bad shape, but if you look at the median income in real terms, it hasn't done that well. you look at corporate earnings. they've been through the roof. >> i know you hate talking about china, so i'm sorry i have to bring this up, but earlier this week we woke up, as i'm sure you saw to find that the chinese are surpassing the united states. this was based on the world bank's assessment and it comes much sooner than many people expected, and i'm sure a lot of americans hear this, and they immediately see it through a prism of fear. help us understand what economic

power really means here. is this about the size of one's overall economy, or is it their per capita gdp. beyond that what does china have and what does -- >> big question for a minute. essentially this measures purchasing power parody. if the chinese exchange rate were where it was supposed to be, as opposed where it is now, then the chinese economy would be worth a lot more, and it would be bigger than the united states or at least the same size. you have to remember, there are five or six times as many chinese as there are americans. i have always said if my naim neighbor had six kids and i have one, they're going to have a bigger grocery bill. the other thing is if they had that exchange, given the technology they have and don't have, they wouldn't have all those exports. that economy wouldn't be so large, and therein lies the problem of getting the wages up. and that's the exchange rate. the treasuries, that's their job. then there would be a lot more manufacturing jobs in the united states and with it more

construction jobs. there would be a lot hire pay to go around. we would all be a lot better off. you know, this is kind of a commentary on poor u.s. economic policy, and i hasten to add it's been a bipartisan problem. >> one ge kwe for both of you first, and then peter. one last question. a lot of talk about how america's economy was stronger and inequality was left on the marginal tax rate. the tax rate was higher now that the tax rate is lower, that is a driver of inequality and perhaps slowing our economy. the ultimate highest tax rate that would get the economy to an appropriately balanced and moving society. i want a number from both of you. >> be specific. >> okay.

okay. some of the -- >> the people on wall street will pay a lower tax rate than a college professor was or warren buffett's secretary. it does. i think that the real problem here isn't the level of the marginal tax rates. for example, i think we have a higher marginal tax rate than we

have now, and be growing quite nicely if these other issues that we have spoken about over the months were addressed. back in the day we had a marginal tax rate on the very wealthiest americans. you had to be making a lot of money in real terms to have it. we didn't have a currency problem. we didn't have a health care cost problem. we didn't have monopolized banks that, you know, basically squeezed the interest rate that old folks can get on the cd and so on and so forth. there's a lot of monopoly elements in the economy that need to be addressed. we need a good old-fashioned wisconsin pop list to come in here and address those kinds of issues. >> how about a massachusetts populist. that's what i want. >> no, no, no. we're going to have a socialist. let's go hands in the soil farmer socialist. >> krystal, i am blown away that we have agreement from jared and peter. >> i know. >> on capital gains loopholes. i love it. >> let's make it happen.

>> we have have cake and balloons. >> cake and ice cream. >> i'm hearing a lot of talk about cake. >>. >> the rose garden news conference with german chancellor angela merkel, and there is much more where that came from. we'll designate into the issue, with the u.s. and germany back together as the cycle rolls on. it's friday, may 2nd. r. try phillips fiber good gummies. r. they're delicious, and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain.

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>> we are yin itd on our i unwavering article 5 commitment to the security of our nato allies. we're united in our support for ukraine. it is obvious to the world that

these russian-backed groups are not peaceful protesters. they are heavily armed militants who are receiving significant support from russia. the russian leadership must know that if it continues to destabilize eastern ukraine and disrupt this month's presidential election, we will move quickly on additional steps. >> that is president obama and german chancellor merkel trying to calm tensions in ukraine, which is now on full military alert. fearing an imminent invasion from russia. moscow has warned any use of ukraine's military against its own people would be a game changer with "catastrophic consequences." that is exactly what the interim ukrainian government did this morning. ukraine's new anti-terror teams used force to take back the eastern town of sloviansk from who they call professional mercenaries. this is the same city where several american journalist from cbs news and buzz feed were detained and thankfully we're released. ukrainian military units now

have half that city under their control and the acting president says his goal now is to prevent the unrest from spreading. along the southern coast, nearly three dozen people are dead after the local trade union building was set on fire during violent clashes. as for that russian threat, there are 40,000 russian troops camped out at the border. the russian foreign minister says the kiev regime has now seriously violated their obligations of the geneva statement from april 17, which demanded a halt to any violence as the most urgent step. let's check in with politico mano raju on how this is playing out in washington, and, manu, it seems like the ukraine crisis is strengthening washington's ties here with germany. what's your take-away from today's meeting? >> yeah. they really wanted to show a sense of unity with germany. really the united states needs to be allied with europe over moving forward with a broader sanctions regime. you heard the president raised the specter of doing sectoral

regime going against finance and against the defense industry, the arms industry there. the issue for europe is, of course, the concern about -- about the impact on energy supplies, russian energy supplies, whether or not any broader sanctions could hurt their ability to their use and import of all these russian oil and natural gas supplies. that's going to be the question going forward for them. while they showed unity on the issue of ukraine, of course, germany and the united states are clearly not on the same page yet when it comes over to the national security agency, the domestic surveillance program and what came to light over the edward snowden revelations over spying on angela merkel themselves. the president used the line we're not -- we're not aligned yet on this issue about whether there would be no spy agreement on other government officials in

germany. that's going to be a point of contention going forward. >> let's bring it back home a little bit. there's a new pew research poll out, and it shows bipartisan support for increasing our sanctions against russia. that being said, though, our friends at stratford make an interesting point. they say both congress and the state department can be told that something is being done in terms of sanctions, and both can pretend it's being done, but, in fact, nothing can really be done. are the newest sanctions that have been improved just this week, are they doing anything to appease washington? >> it doesn't seem that way. particularly, if polls continue to show dissatisfaction with the president's handling of this issue, you know, that's what you are going to hear the president and the white house bake the drum further. if they do get unity with the europeans and go for a broader sanctions regime, right now, as you know, they have been going after against putin's inner circle mainly. if these broader sectoral sanctions begin to have actually

an impact on russia, that could change the dynamic in washington a little bit. for right now you're seeing pressure particularly from the republicans against the white house to do much more. >> yeah. when you pull sanctions like that, you are asking people should we do something that might bother putin? i think a lot of americans would say yeah, but you're not also polling, well, what are the long-term economic and diplomatic costs of that? what's the sustainable strategy there? you really only are weighing the benefit, i think, and not the cost. yet abby's question connects to what some of the republicans are up to. senator corker has a -- and talking up the idea of more military aid to ukraine and other countries in the region. is it all just a political bluff here since it's not going to go through the white house, or what do you make of this push from senate republicans? >> it's more symbolic than anything else. they want to show that put pressure on the administration to do more. clearly the white house is not

ready to go to the length that bob corker and the other republicans are pushing right now. particularly dealing with potentially arming the pro-ukrainian forces in that region. but it's interesting, you know, that there are 20 or so republicans that are on that bill, but, remember, the 45 members of the republican conference, so republicans themselves are not united on this is the correct approach. marco rubio, for instance, is on this bill, but who is not on this bill? two of his potential 2016 rivals. ted crews and r& paul. it shows a difference in the republican party whether or not to take a hawkish position or whether this isolationist strain that is moving through the republican party is gaining more of a foot hold. >> manu, the pew poll that abby referenced, shows the parties are pretty split on what they want obama to do in this situation. has obama not been tough enough in dealing with the situation. they ask folks, more than half of the gop said yes. less than one-quarter of dems

agreed with that statement. look, no matter even if we say obama should do something given this obstructionist congress, it's nearly impossible to do anything. >> it was pretty noncontroversial when it went through, mainly dealing with the expanding loan guarantees to the ukrainian government, and that took some time to get through. that was, you know, relatively noncontroversial bill. what would the president really do in this situation that would get broad bipart sfwlan support? virtually nothing. in the meantime, it's a frustrating situation for the white house because polls do continue to show disapproval of the way he is handling the situation, which is a big departure, of course, from 2012 and the re-election campaign when foreign policy was one of his great assets talking about winding down iraq, winding down the afghanistan war as well as camping obama, but since then in the second term he has hit a lot of the foreign policy crisis

situations, and the american public overwhelmingly is giving him negative marks on his handling of the situations. >> all right. manu raju, thanks, as always. >> thank you. up next, the latest twist in the sterling saga, and gearing up for the most exciting two minutes in sports. the news cycle is next. the conversation about her mortgage didn't start here. it began on her vacation in europe. someone stole her identity and opened some credit cards in her name. checking her experian credit report and score allowed her to better address the issue...and move right in. experian. my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day. but it looks like maybe we should ask your doctor about pradaxa. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate)... ...was proven superior to warfarin at reducing the risk of stroke. and unlike warfarin, with no regular blood tests or dietary restrictions. hey thanks for calling my doctor.

sure. pradaxa is not for people with artificial heart valves. don't stop taking pradaxa without talking to your doctor. stopping increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you need to stop pradaxa before surgery or a medical or dental procedure. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding or have had a heart valve replaced. seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition or stomach ulcer, take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners... ...or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctors about all medicines you take. pradaxa side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you or someone you love has afib not caused by a heart valve problem... ...ask your doctor about reducing the risk of stroke with pradaxa. this is mike. his long race day starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines"

the 16-year-old connecticut teen accused of killing a fellow student allegedly because she turned down his prom invitation appeared in court today charged as an adult with her murder. chris's attorney describes his client's condition near psycosis. hundreds turned out for the service of the victim mary sanchez. many of them wearing purple, her favorite color. >> tonight also marks eight weeks since malaysian airlines flight 370 went missing, and the malaysian government is now urging families of those missing family members to accept the reality that their loved ones

are not coming back. officials have shut down those support centers. relatives say the first funeral for their family members will be held this weekend. a preliminary report on the disaster released this week also revealed that 17 minutes went by before anyone noticed that the plane had fallen off of radar systems, and another four hours had passed before the official search was convened. back here in new york, tense moments in the nation's largest transit system this morning. a train derailed on the new york city subway with about 1,000 passengers on board. 19 people were hurt. four seriously. firefighters had to rescue riders one by one through a subway grate. passengers say they heard screeching and banging as the train came to a sudden halt. a spring tradition this weekend at churchill downs. the annual kentucky derby is tomorrow. go ahead and get out your big hat and grab a mint julip. sounds pretty good. california chrome has 5-1 odds and is the favorite. as this race has prooun in years

past, there is no such thing as a sure thing. you can watch it all play out tomorrow on your local nbc station. race coverage begins at 4:00 eastern, but party coverage kicks off at noon. >> or even earlier. they call the kentucky derby the greatest two minutes in sports, but not greatest two words in sports are game seven. that's where the los angeles clippers are headed on saturday night in l.a. -- one point late last night. this is like a hollywood movie for the clippers. sterling still owns the team, but the nba's finance committee has begun the process to terminate his ownership, and at this point it appears to be just a matter of time. i think the late great lakers announcer chick hern are sam sterling's status as aan owner, the lights are out, the eggs are cooled and the butter is getting hard, and the jell-o is jiggling. mike taibi is in l.a. with more on all of this. >> did he really say the jell-o

is jiggling? i'm not sure about that. >> got the tape to prove, it big mike where. >> i guess. we shouldn't be surprised anymore how fast some stories move. this one moved at the speed of the internet. i mean, in the digital age when videos go viral and social media go nuts over some stories as they did in this one, action gets forced right to the front very, very fast. it's not even a week yet. look what's happened. lifetime ban for sterling. check. maximum fine, $2.5 million. check. forced sale of the team. not so fast, but it could be fast starlgt next week. as you said, the advisory financial committee representing ten of the teams' owners in the nba voted unanimously yesterday to go forward with sterling's termination. they will then tell the nba, that is to say commissioner adam silver, probably after a meeting next week what their charge or charges might be. then the clock starts. commissioner has three days to essentially serve sterling with the charges and then sterling himself has five days to file a written response and within ten

days of that you can see how fast this is all going. the owners have to convene what's called a special hearing, in a sense, a trial, although without all the rules of evidence, sterling can bring who represents and advises him if he chooses to be there. after that trial the owners vote. it's got to be a three-quarter vote. 23 of the 30 owners have to vote guilty. if they do, the commissioner then has an option according to the constitution, which we read carefully, and now everybody has, to basically take over the assets and management of the team. a a sign them to another buyer, and then return the equity after paying all the debts that sterling might have to sterling himself. that could all happen literally within a month unless sterling decides to go to court. there's another prior mistress of donald sterling back in 2003 who got a mention in beverly hills and a budget of other things. sterling said he sue her for fraud and she forged the

documents. he didn't anticipate or if he did he ignored what he anticipated that he had love letters from him during one of which he says -- he lost the suit, but it also says something about him that we should consider now when we think about what might happen. that is to say he will sue somebody at the drop of a hat. even at the expense of his reputation taking a hit, as happened back then. although not everybody noticed it because it wasn't a racial thing. it was just money and sex. he will continue to sue even if it costs him an enormous amount of money. suing the nba right now, if he suz on an anti-trust case, could cost him hundreds of millions of dollars at the value of the team. imagine player defection, sponsor defections. a team going down the drain. now it's a hot team. one win away from advancing in the playoffs. who knows what donald sterling would do? he hasn't said yet. >> thanks, mike. the story is, of course, about much more than sports. it's also about race, class, unions, management, and now medicine. reports say sterling has been battling prostate cancer for

years. there's a cornucopia issue to spin on. i take it to the table with this. mike brings up the issue of this moving at internet speed, but i think what we really see here, krystal is the power of unions to protect workers. when unions behave responsibly and in a unified fashion, they can protect their workers in a very effective fashion. kevin johnson really helped the players union in this -- the players association in this situation to really bond together, right, and it's this nba union has historically not been unified, right, not been as united as powerful as it's been, but kevin johnson, the current mayor of sacramento has been telling the nba players association, you guys can get more. you can have more power, and he helped unify this group. let's see a little bit of him. >> this is also a statement about where we are as a country. it doesn't matter if you're a professional basketball player worth millions of dollars or a man or woman who works hard for

their family. there will be zero tolerance for institutional racism no matter how rich or powerful. let me say how proud i am of the players of this league for standing up for themselves. >> yeah. it's incredibly powerful to see the way that the players have united around this, and what this comes down to for me is leadership. the ability for one man, adam silver, to stand up to this and say this is not right and act so quickly on that. now we're seeing that it is moving very quickly, and it could come down to a vote next week is what they're saying. who will take over the team? as i mentioned yesterday, there are a number of people that are being talked about. i like magic swron son. i think he would add a lot of interesting dynamics to that. he answered a question yesterday when asked. let's take a listen. >> you going to buy the

clippers? >> i've been saying no all the time. i think that we'll see what happens. >> keeps talking. we went from no to we'll see. keep going. >> i will be owning an nba team sometime. it has to be the right situation. is the clippers the right situation? of course, it's one of the premier franchises. >> that's -- yeah, that's a nice magic moment there. i view it -- somewhat differently. i don't think this is about leadership. i don't know adam silver. i have no problem with adam silver, but he was certainly not in the front here. he had to respond to what we were saying earlier. the internet speed, ut outrage, the players, the media a part of it. >> did he respond in the wrong manner? i think that takes leadership as well to make the right decision. >> i think he responded in absolutely the right manner, but i think he was following and respond and reacting to it. in fact, i think when you look at some of the other incidents

we've seen, the whole problem here and the reason why there's more work to do is that had this not been outed and put out for everyone to know, had there not been what we call transparency in politics, this would have been one more private owner thing that had he heard about, he would have looked the other way. you see that a lot in big organizations. you know, now we have the nba bilaws and we've been talking about this as well this week. what you see in the bilaws is way more rules governing players than owners. one example? there's a good moral character clause there nor players and how you can remove players. they don't even have that for the owners. they should just like there should be rules for all employees that make you a good xwae, but your boss should also have those rules, which i think picks up on your point about the larger labor lessons we can learn here. we need more reform. >> absolutely. i mean, i think the public pressure here, the player pressure, the corporate pressure was really critical to getting this great result. i have been asking myself the question because i have a little bit of experience in rehabbing one's own personal image.

i've been asking myself whether donald sterling, whether there is any chance that he could rehab his personal image, and i think it would be virtually impossible, especially at this point in his life after he sort of amassed a record of horrific racist, sexist things, but i do think if he really sincerely came out and didn't do the oh, no, this isn't me, i don't have a racist bone in my body thing, but actually acknowledged the racism that he has engageed in and apologized and set about mending his ways, i think possibly people could come to a place of forgiveness with him, and i'll till, you know, if he is looking for someone to sit down with, i think he would be hard pressed make a better choice than our own reverend sharpton to come and sit down and have a real frank conversation, and that could potentially begin some sort of healing process there. >> interesting idea. up next, long-time new york city power broker and financial guru has a warning for some of america's biggest cities,

including this one. richard joins us in a moment. honestly, i'm pouring everything i have into this place. that's why i got a new windows 2 in 1. it has exactly what i need for half of what i thought i'd pay. and i don't need to be online for it to work. it runs office, so i can do schedules and budgets and even menu changes. but it's fun, too -- with touch, and tons of great apps for stuff like music, 'cause a good playlist is good for business. i need the boss's signature for this. i'm the boss. ♪ honestly ♪ i wanna see you be brave

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politicians in denial are bringing states to the brink of bankruptcy. that is the warning coming from life-long democrat and financial guru richard. he knows of what he speaks. he helped his native new york city narrowly avert bankruptcy. he has spent the decade since tackling some of the state's toughest fiscal problems as chairman of the mta, lieutenant governor of new york. at 80 he has been tapped to help bankrupt detroit climb out of its own fiscal abyss. in his memoir he warns that other states, including new york, once again are also in trouble. so much to do. a full life of business, politics, and confronting fiscal crisis. it's as much about the country as it is about its author, and richard joins us at the table. it's so nice to have you here. you really have seen all of

this. i mean, why are we seeing today still so many cities and so many states in fiscal trouble? how much of this is because of politicians overpromising something they can't deliver on? >> well, i think nobody intended to make promises they couldn't deliver on. i think economics changed. a lot of these promises were made when our rate of growth was a lot higher, when american legitimately in the world wasn't questioned. they were made in good faith. our revenues just aren't equal to paying them at the moment, and that's why there's this enormous fiscal crunch, which requires cuts and taxes and if the political system doesn't handle it well, it ends up in a tragedy like detroit where they have to file bankruptcy. >> you are working with the governor of new york in 1975 when president ford didn't actually say drop dead, but the daily news said that he did, but he denied new york federal assistance that it needed to fend off bankruptcy. how did new york city rebound

from that difficult moment? >> well, first of all, there was a continuing dialogue with the president and the treasury department over the summer. i think ford did the right thing. he waited until the state had done a lot of things first. state took over a lot of the city's functions. the state passed a law that required the city to budget in accordance with sensible accounting practices. the state raised taxes. the state declared a moratorium on the interest of city debt, and that wasn't quite enough to avert bankruptcy, and ford waited, i think, wisely. ultimately because he had to get the congress to approve it. it was a very, very close vote in the house of representatives when they finally enacted an aid to new york bill. i will tell you something interesting. it never cost the federal taxpayer a dime. every amount, dollar, that the federal government gave over the next couple of years was paid

back with interest. the interest rate was 1% higher than what the treasury was paying. >> richard, ari here in washington. i wanted to ask you, in the book you talk about all the different pole tigs you worked with in new york, including governor cuomo. you see him, of course, taking a part in disbanding the anti-corruption commission that he found in less than a year ago. now there's a u.s. attorney subpoena and some kind of inquiry into all that. has governor cuomo really fallen down on his pledge to do anti-corruption and real ethics leadership in the state of new york? >> i don't think he has. i think the urgency is to get campaign finance reform. it's not the occasional crook that bothers me as much as the abismal destructive use of money

in politics, and that is not illegal and it isn't unethical, but it is corroding the ability of the democracy to make the decision a little more objectively than perhaps they're doing. >> amen. very well said. >> great having you here. also a new york mets fan. might want to stick around for our next segment. we certainly have something fun coming up. it's friday here on the cycle. okay ladies, whenever you're ready.

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the weather is warming up, and baseballing games. the smell of hot dogs and fathers bringing their sons and daughters to a game for the first time. those are all classic american traditions. when you were there, you more than likely ran into your team's favorite mascot, that loveable sometimes weird looking creature always engaging in shen an begans trying to make you laugh, like the seattle mariners' moose. go mariners. you probably already know the story of the players on the field, but there is a new book tigtsed, yes, it's hot in here, and it explores the whacky and secret world of sports mascots and the people who proudly wear those particular uniforms. joining us now is mr. met himself, or at least the guy who donned that suit for three years. a.j. mass, now a writer for espn.com, joining us from philly, the home of the philly fanatic. that's go something i have always known. how are you? >> i'm doing good. how are you? >> i'm good. you got this whole set of stories here which pull the curtain back for baseball fans.

one of the stories you tell is about a run-in with the secret service and president clinton. what happened there? >> well, it was jackie robinson day, the first ever that they had, and they were going to retire jackie robinson's number, 42, throughout all of baseball, and president clinton decided the night before that he kind of wanted to be a part of the ceremonies. overnight shea stadium transformed into something that more resembled la guardia airport that there were metal detectors placed all over the place, and mr. met, myself at the time, couldn't get his big noggin through a lot of the metal detectors which caused a backlog in the line. you know, there was a little bit of metal in my head. the wands would go off when nypd was frisking me. they threw me up against the wall and put the cuffs on me. secret service was having none of that. they kind of -- they kind of, like, took me aside and said, mr. met, we're not going to bother you anymore. do what it is you normally do, but just so you know, there's snipers all around the ring of the stadium. approach the president, we go

for the kill shot. >> _#mascot problems. that's sudden sg i cannot relate to. two questions i'm dying to know. how hot does it actually get in the costume, and what when you think back on your years as being a mascot, of the most uncomfortable moment you had in dealing with some of the fans? >> well, it gets very hot. i mean, i would say it's a good 40 to 50 degrees hotter in there. january you can walk outside in new york city, and i did on to rockefeller center on to the ice just in the costume, and i felt perfectly balmy inside of there. you know, the worst for mr. met in particular, i don't know if every mascot has this problem, but it was bat day. it's when the team thought it was a cute idea to arm the children with weapons that were meant to hit a baseball, and mr. met's nogg sain giant baseball, so that didn't go over too well. especially as they are hopped up on cotton candy and everything, and you try and convince them that i'm not a big pinata with a prize inside. >> i am curious, what draws one

into the world of mascoting, and i do understand that there is a mascot boot camp, correct? >> yeah. dave raymond, who was the original philly fanatic, runs a boot camp several times a year to try and, you try and help people who maybe are at the high school level or college level who want to improve their craft to really, you know, get better at the job. it is a job. it isn't just standing in a suit and, you know, waving. there is a skill that goes into it. it shows. the organizations that think it's just, you know, let's take the intern and stick him in the costume because he drew the short straw, they're not getting a good performance out of their character. the mascot is the single biggest marketing tool a team has. you really have to have a paid professional in that outfit to do the job the way it should be done. >> having a paid professional and the marketing potential, because i'm wondering, why have a mascot at all? if there's the owner saying, hey, we haven't had a mascot for

60 years, why should we have one, what would you say? >> a lot of owners when they buy a team, the first thing they'll do is look at the budget line where it says mascot and say let's cut that person out of the loop and save cash. really, it is marketing. how many kids go to a game and could care less what's going on on the field but if you tell them they'll get to meet the mascot, they'll attend again. the fan base is getting tomorrow and the way to recruit fans of tomorrow is to have a character they can relate to, something for them at the ballpark. >> what sort of squats make for a good mascot? give us all your qualities. >> well, i think part of it is have a lot of the sport. understand what's going on in the game. there's nothing that's sadder than watching a mascot when their team goes down and they're still dancing and doing a little

goofy skit. the fans want to identify with you. if your team is losing, look sad, look depressed. understand the rhythms of the game so you're mascoting at appropriate times. >> mascoting? >> mascots are for the kids, generally speaking. >> also, we want to ask, if you have advice for someone -- if someone at home wants to grow up to be a mascot or toure who may want to do this at some later point, what are the tips? >> well, you know, hydrate before you get into the costume because you're going to lose about 20 pounds every time you put it on. really, you know, just go to college, get a real education, because you cannot mascot forever. your knees are going to go. it's grueling work. it's a young man's game. >> young man's game, you hear that, maybe it's not for you. >> are we really -- really? wow. i didn't know we were using this word as a verb. >> wow, okay, cool. >> that was abby saying toure's

old. >> wow. >> i'm sure if you're good enough, you can do it at any time. thank you for joining us today. and he's gone. up next, toure talks about the lessons of clive bundy and don sterling. i recognize the job and i have different things to do. i frankly, i think i'm doing my job better. ♪

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today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? met by a widespread and thunderous beatdown. that's great. when it comes to modern racism, are we missing the forest for the trees? the brilliant jay smooth concluded his news video saying -- >> i just wish when i watch a story like this that we could figure out how to take that same energy and fury we bring to racist words and bring it just as hard to all the racist

practices that generate injustice without generating tmz clips. >> shaming donald and cliven into a virtual closet makes us feel good but it has minimal impact on racial justice. the most important battle is against systemic racism. check out the report moving the race conversation forward by race forward, a group that's all about racial justice. there's individualized racism like racial slurs. and then there's systemic racism, as in the policies and practices that hurt communities of color and perpetuate white privilege. to name a few, the war on drugs, hiring discrimination, racial profiling and the school to prison pipeline. it's easier to attack individual racism because systemic racism often lacks easily identifiable perpetrators. but systemic racism is much more pernicious. cliven bundy linked the welfare state and the age old bankrupt stereotype of black says laze and many feel the same.

studies show 40% white meshes are not as hard working as whites. that pervasive feeling makes it easier to drum up redistributing money to the supposedly undeserving black poor. a professor finds anti-welfare sentiments are driven by stereotypes of the black work ethic. from the image of the lazy blackwell fair queen can we have the honest conversation. people should know the percentage welfare recipients who are white is almost identical to the percentage of welfare recipients who are black and that poor black people definitely work hard and poverty is not a character defect. and poor shaming is an unacceptable form of classism. misunderstood or not, when these sentiments provide political cover for policy that justifies damaging racial justice, then individual racism can become systemic racism. paul ryan met with members of

the congressional black caucus this week because of his recent comments about what he called inner city men not value a culture of work. ryan said he was misunderstand but his 2015 budget would really hurt communities of color as it cuts $125 billion from the food star program while cutting taxes for millionaires. looks like ryan's a redistributionist. he just wants to redistribute money upwards. the supreme court's assaults on affirmative action and voting rights acts do serious damage to racial justice. they're couched the in idea that racism is over so federal professions can be removed. if black access to colleges is restricted than so is our ability to participate. thus perpetuating racial disparities without anyone saying anything that could get them kicked out of the nba. when we're up in arms about systemic racism, we have a chance to really change america. that does it for "the cycle." "now with alex wagner" starts

now. darrell issa is doing his very favorite thing in the whole world, wasting taxpayer money and issuing subpoenas. it's friday, may 2nd. this is "now" live from washington, d.c. >> benghazi. >> benghazi. >> benghazi. >> republicans will form a select committee. >> darrell issa was announcing on the hill that his oversight committee has subpoenaed the secretary of state to testify. >> benghazi. >> benghazi. >> which happened months and months before john kerry took over at the state department. >> it's the conservative media crowd. >> obsessed about benghazi. >> i cannot believe the explosive details we're finding out about benghazi. >> did you also change attacks to demonstration, in the talking points? >> maybe, i don't really remember. >> you don't remember? >> dude,s